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WVU fan experience

While some may not remember, I started a thread many weeks ago asking how to spend my time in Ames over the Thankgsgiving week. You were very kind to give me great ideas and I believe the thread got to 8-9 pages. I was also asked to give feedback regarding my trip. I will keep things in order as it is easier for me to remember. This will be a long post.

Before I get into my trip I first have to say that 5 weeks before the game my wife broke her left leg in 3 places. We thought she may have to stay in the hotel for the game as she cannot do stairs. She was able to call the ticket office and get our tickets switched to the handicap section in the south endzone. Most schools could have blown us off. We appreciate their work in making our seats possible.

We drove up from St. Louis on Wednesday. The drive was boring to be frank.(6 hours) I have never seen so many silos in my life. Stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn off exit 44. My son and I went to Perfect Games to bowl and relax. I spoke with a couple barteners that thanked us for comig but said that we would get crushed. I wouldn't expect nothing else. The initial look around the city reminded me of Morgantown only flat. This came in handy with the wheelchair.

For Thanksgiving we ate at the Iowa Stater. While not as good as homemade with the family, I was very impressed with the food. The turkey dinner was a large portion and quite tasty.(4 big slices of turkey and wet stuffing amongst others) We even had leftovers. All for 18.00 bucks per person. Kudos to the staff there.(Courtney I liked your tatoo) I finished the rest after my Cowboys sucked *** yet again.

Now for gameday. We got to the stadium around 12:00 and parked in the handcapped section S2. We walked to the Scheman building for a WVU aumni tailgate indoors. On the way there(long walk from the south endzone) we were greeted by a few ISU fans. We were invited to a few tailgates but stopped at one in the north parking lot. Thank you to that group for giving me a beer and shielding us from the wind. For what it is worth I appreciated it and sorry I had to leave so soon. If you ever need my professional advice send me a PM. I know you use these boards.

Fan Behavior: It was a great atmoshere. We were stopped 10-12 times and thanked for making the trip and "Welcome to the Big 12". We heard a few "MountainQueer" yells but not directed at us. Believe me it was nothing we haven't heard before. One group of kids told us that "we sucked". Their parents called them out and made them apologize. Funny stuff.

By the way it was Cold!!!!!!!!!

I thought the field looked great. The pregame was funny for me and my wife. My son is terribly afraid of bad weather. With the tornadoes we have had in Missouri over the last couple years he gets nervous at any weather bulletin. When the big screen came up and said "Mountaineer fans run for cover" he somewhat freaked. I xplained to him the joke and we all got a good laugh. I am still not sure what think about the scaffolding/scoreboard in the north endzone. I have not seen it before. My son got to take his picture with the Moutaineer. There were many Cyclone fans getting pictures also. Due to the cold, we left mid 3rd quarter. My son and wife could not take anymore. (wimps) I will say his hot chocolate became cold chocolate within 5 minutes. We went back to the hotel and partied in the lobby with a bunch of ISU fans. Thanks for making us feel welcome and offering food and drinks in the lobby.

On a side note, I read that many Cyclone fans were upset with our players behavior. I wont apologize for them as they are not my kids and were not raised by me. Hopefully through life they will learn respect one way or the other. These things tend to work themselves out.

Thanks for a great week. If they continue this game during Thanksgiving week in the future we will be there.

Re: WVU fan experience

Originally Posted by Scarlasfly

While some may not remember, I started a thread many weeks ago asking how to spend my time in Ames over the Thankgsgiving week. You were very kind to give me great ideas and I believe the thread got to 8-9 pages. I was also asked to give feedback regarding my trip. I will keep things in order as it is easier for me to remember. This will be a long post.

Before I get into my trip I first have to say that 5 weeks before the game my wife broke her left leg in 3 places. We thought she may have to stay in the hotel for the game as she cannot do stairs. She was able to call the ticket office and get our tickets switched to the handicap section in the south endzone. Most schools could have blown us off. We appreciate their work in making our seats possible.

We drove up from St. Louis on Wednesday. The drive was boring to be frank.(6 hours) I have never seen so many silos in my life. Stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn off exit 44. My son and I went to Perfect Games to bowl and relax. I spoke with a couple barteners that thanked us for comig but said that we would get crushed. I wouldn't expect nothing else. The initial look around the city reminded me of Morgantown only flat. This came in handy with the wheelchair.

For Thanksgiving we ate at the Iowa Stater. While not as good as homemade with the family, I was very impressed with the food. The turkey dinner was a large portion and quite tasty.(4 big slices of turkey and wet stuffing amongst others) We even had leftovers. All for 18.00 bucks per person. Kudos to the staff there.(Courtney I liked your tatoo) I finished the rest after my Cowboys sucked *** yet again.

Now for gameday. We got to the stadium around 12:00 and parked in the handcapped section S2. We walked to the Scheman building for a WVU aumni tailgate indoors. On the way there(long walk from the south endzone) we were greeted by a few ISU fans. We were invited to a few tailgates but stopped at one in the north parking lot. Thank you to that group for giving me a beer and shielding us from the wind. For what it is worth I appreciated it and sorry I had to leave so soon. If you ever need my professional advice send me a PM. I know you use these boards.

Fan Behavior: It was a great atmoshere. We were stopped 10-12 times and thanked for making the trip and "Welcome to the Big 12". We heard a few "MountainQueer" yells but not directed at us. Believe me it was nothing we haven't heard before. One group of kids told us that "we sucked". Their parents called them out and made them apologize. Funny stuff.

By the way it was Cold!!!!!!!!!

I thought the field looked great. The pregame was funny for me and my wife. My son is terribly afraid of bad weather. With the tornadoes we have had in Missouri over the last couple years he gets nervous at any weather bulletin. When the big screen came up and said "Mountaineer fans run for cover" he somewhat freaked. I xplained to him the joke and we all got a good laugh. I am still not sure what think about the scaffolding/scoreboard in the north endzone. I have not seen it before. My son got to take his picture with the Moutaineer. There were many Cyclone fans getting pictures also. Due to the cold, we left mid 3rd quarter. My son and wife could not take anymore. (wimps) I will say his hot chocolate became cold chocolate within 5 minutes. We went back to the hotel and partied in the lobby with a bunch of ISU fans. Thanks for making us feel welcome and offering food and drinks in the lobby.

On a side note, I read that many Cyclone fans were upset with our players behavior. I wont apologize for them as they are not my kids and were not raised by me. Hopefully through life they will learn respect one way or the other. These things tend to work themselves out.

Thanks for a great week. If they continue this game during Thanksgiving week in the future we will be there.

Thanks much for the description of your trip and game experience! I really enjoyed reading your perspective on everything. I like to see other's reaction to new experiences especially what they think of Ames, ISU, gameday, etc. I'm sure that there will be a lot of Cyclones out in Morgantown next year to enjoy you guys' hospitality! Hope the wife recovers nicely from her broken leg-sounds bad!

Re: WVU fan experience

Thanks for reporting back. I always love hearing visitors share their experience, especially first timers to JTS and Ames.
It's too bad the game wasn't a day before, as it was much warmer and the weather would have been much nicer for football and tailgating. Oh well, welcome to a standard November day in Iowa.

Re: WVU fan experience

This is awesome to hear as an ISU fan. I'm sure not all fans feel the same way but it's great to hear that our fans treated you with respect and welcomed you to Ames. Thank you for making the trip. I wish our football team would have welcomed yours with a loss but that's a different story! Please visit the boards again (especially before next years game). The only thing I know about you mountain folk I learned from watching Deliverance so we may need a tour guide

Re: WVU fan experience

The West Virginia fans we encountered were classy, respectful, and great college football fans. If you ran into a ruffian Cyclone or two - I apologize on their behalf. Every fan base has a couple of weirdo cousins that say the wrong things at the wrong moment. We tried to be gracious hosts and hope you visit again.

The "Ambassadors" you sent to the WVU-ISU game were a good sign of REALLY good things to come!

Go Mountaineers! (unless you are playing us in which we hope you lose 42-0).

We'll work on the weather... Not sure who had the phone number of Mother Nature but the call didn't get through.

Re: WVU fan experience

FWIW it was cold that day, but it the 2 previous days before the game were 75 and sunny and 63. Then a cold front moved through with nasty wind. Normally a late November Game should be mid 40's (just like what is like in Morgantown)

November games in Ames can be anywhere from 0-80 degrees. That was the only really cold game of the season. (this is the same for every Big Ten Team also. ISU just gets crap about it being cold because they are the most north school in the conference.
Good luck to you guys

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